


curve away

by ienablu



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 18:48:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1868457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ienablu/pseuds/ienablu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angel and Raven share a couch, and the definition of first can vary on the circumstances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	curve away

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kaydeefalls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaydeefalls/gifts).



> For kaydeefalls, for her birthday, sorry for the tardiness! When I nudged her for a prompt, she gave me "first kiss," and this wasn't where I was expecting to take it, but I like it.
> 
> I have seen DOFP, and this contains a few nods towards the film, but nothing that would be spoilery to someone who has yet to see it.

Angel isn't exactly fond of the CIA headquarters. There's nothing wrong with the base – she's spent some days in worse places, some nights in even worse places than those. Here, she gets her own bed, her own room, and even her own adjoining bathroom, small and cramped as they may be. There's a common room for those like her – whether that meant a _mutant_ or a _recruit_ varied between Xavier and Lehnsherr – but even then she gets some peace and quiet. 

Raven spends most of her time with her attention on Hank, who spends most of his time flustered and fumbling. Darwin has a wicked sense of humor, and he always has a smile for her, but he appreciates the quiet just as much as she does. For a few days, it's nice.

But soon after Alex arrives, word spreads about their mutant nature. Angel had been getting looks since she arrived – mens' gazes would slide up and down her legs, linger on her chest. Now, they look at her shoulders, no longer bare outside the common room, and mutter unpleasantries that she has long since trained herself to ignore. She ignores it, but she shouldn't have to.

In their common room, Raven seems quietly annoyed, while Sean is playing on the pinball machine, amidst friendly heckling from Darwin and Alex. Hank isn't in, likely off working in his lab. Xavier and Lehnsherr and however many CIA agents are on their way to Russia, or already there, which explains Raven's darker mood.

Angel isn't much of a fan of pinball, and so her attention remains on Raven and her agitation. Angel only knows the barest of Raven's backstory, but she knows that Raven and Xavier weren't joined at the hip. "What did you used to do when he left you behind before?" 

It's blunt, perhaps, but it's the right question to ask, because Raven stops sulking. In a flicker of blue, Raven becomes Darwin, who flops down on the seat next to Angel. With Darwin's easy smile, Raven-Darwin says, "I managed to entertain myself."

Darwin turns at the sound of his own voice, and lets out a laugh. Alex stares at them, thrown-off, and Sean just breathes out a _whoa, dude_.

"Looking good," Angel tells him.

"Thanks," Darwin says, throwing her a smile, before elbowing Sean into giving him a turn. Alex keeps staring at them, until Raven-Darwin winks at him.

Angel snorts. After a moment, she asks, "Why Darwin?"

"Why not Darwin?" he replies. He pitches his voice lower, and adds, "He likes you, you know."

"I know," Angel says, easily. After her prior career, she knows how men act when they're interested in her, and Darwin is interested in her. It's the end of any comparison, though. Darwin doesn't presume any ownership of her attention or her affection. Angel appreciates that.

"And what about you?" Raven-Darwin asks. He wraps his arm around the back of the sofa, his fingertips brushing against Angel's shoulder.

Angel's tattoos are sensitive to touch, and she has spent years suppressing any reaction. If she were attracted to men, she would probably be interested in Darwin. And yet, she still has to fight a shiver. "Not in the same way," she says, the simplest truth.

"Shame, I'm pretty damn good looking," Raven-Darwin tells her, seriously.

Angel huffs a laugh. Just as seriously, she replies, "Yes, yes you are."

Raven-Darwin leans in. The easy smile drops from his face for a moment, an assessing look taking its place. The smile returns, brighter than before, and that's all the forewarning Angel gets before Raven-Darwin dips down and presses a feather-light kiss to her shoulder.

Angel gives out a small shriek, from surprise just as much as from the ticklish sensation. She elbows Raven-Darwin lightly in the side, and he backs up, raising his hands appeasingly. "Sorry, sorry."

Hank enters, and Raven flickers back to herself, saving them from any comment from the boys, and saving Angel from having to reply.

 

\- - -

 

Parties hosted by the Hellfire Club are far more enjoyable than the club fare Angel is used to. For the first time in quite some time, she is not one of the most scantily-clad women in the room, and she is enjoying the reprieve from male attention that it allows her. It's enough to balance out the fact that Angel doesn't care for idleness and has spent the past half hour doing just that, and the free drinks certainly don't hurt. Angel prefers harder liquors to the champagne waiters are touting around, but approaching the bar and the men clustered around it is too high a gamble. She's on a plush couch, she has access to drinks, she's fine for now.

They're at the Atomic, at Emma's insistence; Lehnsherr – not Magneto, not when he's without the helmet – cares little for human politics, has no interest in maintaining the human network Shaw created. Emma made an offhand remark regarding mutants in higher positions of power that could further their cause, and promised no one would mention Shaw. Their argument went silent after. Emma won.

And the stormy expression on Raven's face means she probably just lost one herself. She doesn't say anything as she approaches, just throws herself down next to Angel, arms crossed over her chest. 

Angel waits. As she's learned, Raven doesn't speak until she is ready to.

Raven looks at her, gaze sliding to the champagne flute in Angel's hand. "Who did you get that from?" she asks.

After three glasses, Angel isn't entirely certain – the waiters were indistinct to begin with, and now they all blur together. Instead, Angel just replies by handing her drink over.

Raven stares down at it, looking like she wants to say something, scowls, then tosses it back. "Who do we get another one from?"

"They circle around every ten minutes or so."

Raven hums in reply. "I just thought it'd be different here," she says, finally. Her gaze is flashing as she surveys the crowd, her mouth pressed thin.

Angels remember how it is – following a man whose ideology she agreed with, able and willing to help, only to get no say, have no power, only be there for eye candy. Shaw was never untoward, but she always felt pinned under his gaze. She went from the CIA's glass cage to Shaw's. War wasn't her interest, but after her departure from the CIA, she couldn't go back. 

There's no cage now – she's free to leave whenever, should she desire to. Lehnsherr had made that perfectly clear, along with the fact that as much as they may share the same ideology, there's a part of him that won't forgive her for going with Shaw. She doesn't like that she doesn't factor heavily into his plans, but he can trust her beliefs even if he can't trust her. She'll get her chance.

"He doesn't trust me," Raven says, staring down at the champagne flute.

Angel doesn't call her out on it.

"I could help him out, but he'd rather take Emma to his stupid secret meeting. He could have brought the both of us, if he wanted. I'm good at reading people."

"Emma is a telepath," Angel feels obligated to point out. "She can actually read people."

"She can read their thoughts," Raven counters. "Telepaths are actually horrible at reading people," she says, with no small degree of bitterness. "I can read people, and I'm good at it. Emma could read their thoughts, and I could read _them_ , and he could've had twice the intel."

"I'm sure you could," Angel says. She says it casually, and given Raven's hurt expression, it comes out too casually. She leans over, her shoulder pressing against Raven's, setting her hand down on her knee. "Lehnsherr's just an idiot for not seeing it."

Raven stares at the hand on her knee for a long few moments. "I'm good at reading people," she repeats, quieter. She tilts her head up, looking up at Angel through her lashes, and leans in.

Angel thinks back the past few weeks, wondering when she let her interest show. She thinks back to the CIA base, how it had been Darwin's face staring at her but Raven clearly the one deciding to follow through with the kiss. She hopes she follows through again. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." And then Raven kisses her. The nook they're in is shaded, and they're not likely to be seen, and not to be bothered. Angel lifts her hand from Raven's knee, raises it to cup Raven's cheek, pulling her in closer, deepening the kiss. She wants more than this, immediately, the bubbles of the champagne are running through her blood, warmth flushing through her, aided by the slide of Raven's tongue against her own. She gasps as Raven runs her nails down her bicep, tracing the lines of her tattoo. She wants Raven to keep tracing every inch of her wings, every inch of her.

Then Emma's voice rings through her head, an abrupt, ' _We're leaving_.'

Raven startles, pulling away, eyes wide and blazing.

Angel stands, taking a few moments to smooth her dress from where it's ridden up and regain control of her breathing. The mood has shifted considerably, and an uncomfortable silence stretches between them.

Azazel appears beside them a moment later, extending his hand down to Raven.

"She said–" Raven starts, voice tight.

"There's been trouble," Azazel tells her.

Raven takes Angel's hand without looking at her, and an instant later they're back at their Argentina base.

Janos and Emma are already settled on the couches in the living room, his irritation far more obvious than hers.

Raven storms off without looking at any of them.

Angel watches her go, and irrationally hates Emma for a moment.

' _Sorry_ ,' Emma tells Angel, and it's not as insincere as it could be.

 

\- - -

 

They're still at their Argentina villa when they get the news – after their last encounter with the Hellfire Club, news has spread of Shaw's death, and that he left no successor. The Soviets – and the Americans too, likely – are afraid of another mutant filling that gap, and are planning on making their stance on mutantkind known. There will be an 'impromptu' anti-mutant protest in Moscow tomorrow. 

The news makes Angel's blood boil, and all the metal in the room begins to rattle dangerously, before Magneto stalks off to his study.

' _We'll contact you once we've come up with a plan,_ ' Emma informs them all, as she follows after him.

It's an obvious dismissal, and so Angel returns to her room, up on the second floor, with the best balcony in the building. She's been spending her nights flying, her wing finally recovered to where she can fly without pain, even if she doesn't feel like it has healed right.

It shouldn't matter, there should be no resistance that can truly fight back.

But while Magneto had once said that the Blackbird took too much damage to be repaired for months yet, Emma's mental updates include that they should be prepared for Xavier and his team.

The power dynamic between Magneto and Emma is equal parts volatile and playful, with their disdain for each other obvious. Emma is angling to dethrone Magneto, and Angel thinks she would like to be there when it happens. Maybe it would no longer be called the Brotherhood. Angel doesn't like being excluded from her cause by the name.

The sun has long since set, but the moon is full and bright, and Angel doesn't feel like taking to the air and taking any chances. It's still a beautiful night out, and Angel has been sitting on the edge of the balcony bannister, enjoying the warm night's breeze.

The balcony is spacious, as is her room, but she still hears the sound of her door clicking open and close. When Angel turns around to look inside, she sees Raven flopped down on her bed.

It's not an unwelcome sight, and Angel represses the thought. She climbs to her feet, working on keeping her balance on the thin bannister, before jumping down, and walking across the balcony, into her room.

Raven has shifted over, so she's lying on half of the large bed. She's taken back to wearing her blue form all the time, now that there are no Hellfire meetings to attend. Her hands are laced together on top of her stomach, and she's staring distractedly at the ceiling.

Angel sits down, and swings her legs up onto the bed, mirroring Raven's pose.

"Magneto wants to talk to you," Raven says, yellow gaze flitting between her and the ceiling.

Angel doesn't feel inclined to move. "He just get done talking to you?"

She nods.

There is no way this protest will be peaceful, before or after they arrive. Angel still remembers Raven's shrieks when Shaw had invaded the CIA, and she doesn't remember if Raven had truly fought back in Cuba. "Are you nervous?"

"Aren't you?"

Angel considers it. "If it all goes as Magneto plans, no. We stop the protest, rescue any mutants that need our help, and show the rest of the world we will not sit back."

"What if Emma's right? What if... they show up?"

Then it'll all go to hell. Whatever Magneto and Xavier had been, they were close, and a reunion is not going to be pretty. Not when Magneto is still angry that Xavier didn't join them, not when Xavier is probably angry himself. "I'm going to stop the protest," Angel finally says. "If they show up, they will be there to do the same. We're not fighting against each other, as much as Magneto may think we are. If he wants to start a fight, he's free to it, but that's not my concern. I'm there to shut down the protest. If there are mutants in danger, I'm there to look out for them first. Myself second, Magneto third."

"You really don't like Magneto, do you?"

"I like him well enough." She had liked him when he had a hundred dollar bill in his hand, when she found out that he was like her, when he was caustically sarcastic on the drive back. "And I agree with his ideology and his methods more than Xavier's. But I don't agree with everything he does, and I don't have to. It's not just his cause – it's my cause too."

Raven stares at her for a long minute. "Ours," she finally corrects, quietly. 

"Ours," Angel agrees, just as quietly.

Angel should go down to Magneto, find out what part she plays in his plans.

And she will.

First, she leans over, and kisses Raven.


End file.
